Childfree by Choice: The Movement Redefining Family & Creating a New Age of Independence by Dr. Amy Blackstone

BINGO: I Love This Best for: I wish everyone would read this. Parents who don’t understand why people would choose to not be parents can learn a lot about society’s misconceptions, but us childfree folks really benefit from writing that treats us as well-adjusted adults, not selfish, juvenile misanthropes. In a nutshell: Sociologist Blackstone looks at what it means to choose a life without children of one’s own. Worth quoting: I underlined something on nearly every page, and starred something especially poignant probably every three or four pages. But here are some of my favorites. Regarding trying to get sterilized: […]

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Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead by Brené Brown

Brené Brown, a research professor at the University of Houston, has spent two decades studying shame, vulnerability, and courage. This doesn’t necessarily make her a lot of fun at parties. In fact, she jokes that when she tells people she studies shame, they look away uncomfortably and find someone else to talk to. Yet she also has five best-selling books to her name, and her TED Talk on vulnerability is one of the top 25 most popular TED talks of all time. I hesitate to pick up anything that book stores shelve in the “self-help” section, but after watching some […]

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The Secret Barrister: Stories of the Law and How It’s Broken by Anonymous

Best for: Anyone interested in the English criminal justice system. In a nutshell: An actively practicing barrister shares what goes on in the English justice system, and offers suggestions of ways to fix it. Worth quoting: “Early guilty please equal cheap guilty please. It does not follow, of course, that early guilty please equal correct guilty please.” “Defense legal aid, and the effective adversarialism that it permits, doesn’t simply protect the defendant; it protects the public by keeping the prosecution, and the court system, honest.” “In many respects, the released innocent is worse off than the released convict, the latter […]

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Whistling Vivaldi And Other Clues to How Stereotypes Affect Us by Claude M. Steele

A group of social psychologists at Princeton University conducted a study in which they asked white male students who were “reasonably athletically inclined” to play ten rounds on a miniature putting course in a laboratory. Some were told nothing about the purpose of the test, while others were told that the test measured natural athletic ability. Those that were told the test measured their athletic ability performed much worse than those who were told nothing about what the test might mean. In the second part of the test, black male students were given the same task, with the same instructions. […]

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Give People Money: The Simple Idea to Solve Inequality and Revolutionize Our Lives by Annie Lowrey

Best for: Anyone interested in changing the world, addressing poverty, or fixing the ills of capitalism. In a nutshell: What would the world — or just the US — look like if every single person received money every single month. Regardless of need. Regardless of ability to work. Just to keep them at a baseline level of existence, out of poverty. Worth quoting (so much – sorry!): “We no longer have a jobs crisis … but we do have a good-jobs crisis, a more permanent, festering problem that started more than a generation ago.” “…we find no evidence that cash […]

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Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now by Jaron Lanier

Best for: People looking for a push to consider leaving social media. In a nutshell: Silicon Valley veteran (seriously, he worked on internet stuffs in the early 80s) attempts to make the case that social media — in its current form — is harming us and society, and tried to get us to quit. Mixed results follow. Worth quoting: “Yes, being able to quit is a privilege; many genuinely can’t. But if you have the latitude to quit and don’t, you are not supporting the less fortunate; you are only reinforcing the system in which many people are trapped.” “The […]

Trainwreck: The Women We Love to Hate, Mock, and Fear … And Why by Sady Doyle

Best for: People who maybe enjoy the schadenfreud of the seeming downfall of famous women but who are also interested in maybe stopping that. In a nutshell: Author Sady Doyle examines all the ways we push women and judge them for their imperfections. Line that sticks with me: “We spend so much time pathologizing “overemotional” women that we scarcely ever ask what those women are emotional about.” Why I chose it: I’m on a bit of a roll, reading about women who fight the system, who get taken down and fight back. This seemed to fit in nicely. Review: I’ve […]

Too Like the Lightning (Terra Ignota, #1) by Ada Palmer

This might be the weirdest book I’ve ever read. Well, the weirdest book I’ve read that I actually ended up enjoying. I might have to think a while before officially giving it that award. My instinct is to put this review away and not think about it for weeks. I just want to sit with the story, let it brew and fester in my mind a little bit. But I know if I do that, I will forget everything and end up floundering around when it actually comes time to write. I might be more eloquent about the book’s larger […]

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